Your Call
by DarkPoisonousLove
Summary: Valtor is after a powerful enchantment that will force him to face the most dangerous challenge he's ever encountered. Will that be enough to deter him from his pursuit of power or will it simply make the hunt more interesting? Siren AU. Part 1 of "Love Can Be a Trap That Sets You Free".


**A/N: In her review of my previous Valtor/Griffin fic her-majesty-wears-jeans mentioned siren in relation to Griffin and my brain immediately jumped on the Siren AU train. So here is the Siren AU that nobody asked for but I hope you'll enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. (Seriously, this was so much fun to write!) Reviews are always appreciated.**

Valtor assessed the entrance of the cave. It looked open and unprotected, and ready to lead him to the enchantment he was seeking. A fool would've run straight into it, lured in by the promise of unparalleled power. But Valtor was no fool. The mere fact that he'd gotten this far proved it. The location of the cave had been hidden behind countless riddles and obstacles that he'd smashed right through, determined to lay his hands on what could possibly be the greatest treasure of all. It would be his no matter how much patience and resources he had to exhaust.

He summoned a ball of magic and crouched, ready to dodge if necessary. He threw it at the entrance of the cave, but it was blocked and dispersed by the shimmering net of yellow that revealed itself. Pesky fairy dust. He'd be damned if he ever let _that_ of all things stop him. Especially now that he was so close to getting the one tool that could make all his desires come true.

His own magic was useless against the barrier–as proven–since it was meant to repel all dark magic and his Dragon Fire was as black as the coals it left behind. Luckily, he'd stolen some spells for rainy days.

He used the oppositus spell he'd stolen not long ago, robbing an entire planet of its defining trait, on the barrier itself. It was neither light, nor dark magic in essence and provided him with the perfect way to override the otherwise effective defense system.

The bright yellow turned into dark purple that hurt the eyes and looked like it would jump at you and wrap around you tight enough to suffocate you. But to Valtor it was the color of victory. He threw another ball of power at it, causing it to tear and fall to the ground, dissolving into the grass. It was where useless dust belonged anyway.

Now that that was out of the way, he could take a good look at the cave. Well, actually, he couldn't since it was engulfed in darkness that started right at the line of the entrance even though the sun was supposed to shed some light on the first few meters, at least. But where magic was involved, nature was powerless. And when he obtained the enchantment he was after, everything and everyone would be powerless against him.

He conjured a magical sphere that would follow him and float around him no matter where he went and captured a flame of his Dragon Fire inside it. Light seemed secured but when he pushed the sphere into the darkness of the cave, the flame was immediately extinguished. This was proving to be a challenge which would only make the reward sweeter.

He considered his options. Not that there were many. He couldn't go back now. So he had to figure out a way to keep the flame intact. Separated from its source, it could be extinguished, indeed. The problem carried the solution in itself.

Valtor cut off a strand of his hair and put it in the sphere before lighting the fire in it again. It carried the essence of the Dragon Fire and would keep it burning.

And indeed, when he extended his hand forward, the sphere dispersed the darkness and allowed him to see the place of his greatest conquest yet. It was an ordinary cave with no remarkable features except for the darkness which hid its ugly plainness. He hoped the rest of his journey wouldn't be quite so underwhelming.

He stepped inside and felt the space behind his back close in on him. When he looked back, there was nothing but darkness. Gone were the clearing in front of the entrance and the stone walls he'd just seen. He was walking in darkness, stepping on darkness, surrounded by darkness. There was nothing but darkness and him. He'd be scared if they weren't old friends, if it weren't flowing through his veins and allowing his lungs to take in air, to take in life.

He walked. And walked. And walked. And all he was getting to was more darkness. It was just the next obstacle on the road. It was a spell that manipulated space, making it stretch out before you until you forgot your destination because you were getting nowhere. And you couldn't be nowhere so it brought you back at the last place you could remember before you could lose your mind. The moment his mind formed the word "nowhere", he'd be spat back at the entrance, forced to begin the process all over again. Well, he wasn't planning on doing that. His mind was set on his goal and his secure steps were taking him right there. His desire to claim his prize was burning in him stronger than the tiredness.

His determination never wavered, and neither did the flame in his sphere. It brought him to a small passage in the rocks. The same rocks he'd seen at the entrance. He cast a glance over his shoulder to see the sun drenched clearing just a cast behind him. He grinned at himself. That sight almost made even him feel like it'd been all for naught. And it was so much better than the derision which the miniature hole in the stone brought about. As if that could pass as a challenge.

He turned into a rabbit that was just big enough to go through and hopped through the hole, his sphere following him and revealing devastating beauty before his eyes.

The place was full of silver flowers with fine petals that reflected the soft light reaching them and created a glowing aura. It was magical in every sense of the word and carried a quiet strength that was so breathtaking, it would be a shame to step all over them.

Valtor considered passing through the field of flowers as he was – a little rabbit that was light and small enough to go between the stems without causing any damage. He was already in rabbit form anyway. It wouldn't cost him anything.

Caught up in his thoughts, he only noticed the bugs approaching him when they attacked him. They were almost as big as him and attached themselves to his front and back. Two were enough to hold him down but they kept piling on top of him, threatening to crush him underneath their weight. He tried to shake them off since he couldn't use his magic in that form but he couldn't move. Their reddish brown bodies were like a rusty armor that would not allow any movements. And it looked like their carapaces were resistant to magic because he couldn't transform back. His magic was trapped into his body which, in turn, was trapped between the bugs with no option of escape.

He summoned the sphere with the Dragon Fire to hover over the bugs and willed the fire to burn as brightly as possible. It seemed to do the trick for they got off of him and he was human again in no time, running straight into the field of deceitful beauty.

The moment he crushed the first flower, the grass seemed to come to life with its tiny sickly green tendrils reaching for anything that wasn't fast enough to get out of their way. They swallowed up the silver stems and tore apart the delicate petals with sadistic passion. But their appetite–just like them–seemed ever growing for they grabbed for Valtor, too, wrapping around his boots in an attempt to hold him down. He used his magic to ward them off, but they kept plaguing the place, growing with every stem of silver they devoured.

In his haste to get past them, Valtor almost stepped on a snake that was lounging amidst the massacre with decided indifference. It was beyond him how he didn't see its deep purple scales in the sea of green, but he'd missed it all the same, busy with the killer plants.

It hissed at him before diving towards him to bite him, its fangs sharp enough to go through his boots and full of magical poison.

He managed to dodge by throwing himself on the ground that was still covered with monstrous grass. It snaked around him with a clear intent to kill while the snake watched, its tongue coming out of its mouth as if it could taste his defeat and its eyes in the same sickly green as the grass that was currently putting enough pressure on him to break his bones.

For a moment it crossed his mind that the snake was controlling the grass–its manic stare would be proof enough–but he brushed the thought off. It would take a greater power than a glorified magical lizard to bring him down to his knees. Or in this case – sprawled on the ground and cornered by grass.

His blood started boiling and he allowed the pulsing energy to radiate off of him, emitting unbearable heat in the air via his magic that cooked the grass and forced the snake to retreat. He was quickly on his feet and ran after it to see it crawl into the still waters of the lake that he hadn't noticed up until now.

No wonder, really – the waters were as black as the soil and the only thing he could see was the green glow of the snake's eyes under the surface. Its movements indicated for a very steep slope that went down almost vertically. One step in the water and he'd be completely submerged.

That was not the best news for someone whose magic was fire-based. Even if he had the Dragon Fire. But he knew he had to dive if he wanted the enchantment. There was nowhere else for it to be hidden and the snake's choice of a hiding place was further proof.

As he contemplated his approach, a loud flapping of wings startled him. He looked up only to lock eyes with what he would've mistaken for a giant hummingbird if not for the solid beak and intelligent eyes. No, what was looking back at him form a niche high up in the wall with yet another pair of glowing green eyes was a crow. A crow with purple and green glittering feathers. It was magical. Just like everything else he'd seen in the cave of wonders. Wonders that were trying to kill him.

The moment the crow extended its wings, Valtor summoned his magic, ready to defend himself. He wouldn't be caught off guard again. And the feeling of power in his fingers reminded him just how much above these magical beasts he was.

The crow flew straight for him, dodging the magic he threw at it, and used its beak to tear a single hair from Valtor's head before making a turn and flying back over the lake. It dropped the hair in the water and returned to its niche before Valtor could even attack it again. So much for his previous thought.

He almost missed the movement in the water while trying to stare into the crow hard enough to decipher its bizarre behavior. Two fingers showed from beneath the surface to grab the hair and disappeared again without leaving a trace in the water that was still as a rock again. They did leave his curiosity piqued, though, and his heart thumping loudly in anticipation. He would finally get to see who was the puppeteer of that beautiful, yet, hostile ecosystem.

A wave of magic swept over him and he looked at the water that was hellbent on keeping its secrets and gave nothing away. He didn't have to wait much longer, though, for the water finally moved to make space for the creature emerging from its depths.

She had long light purple hair that fell over her breasts, protecting them from his greedy gaze, and a fish tail in a darker shade of purple, the scales looking exactly like those of the snake. He'd thought her to be a mermaid if it weren't for her eyes. They reflected so much of the light that they were glowing and were molten gold in color – the shade of the sky during sunset. And how fitting that was since that was exactly what they were made to watch – the sunset of people's lives.

She was a siren whose only purpose was to lure everyone who walked into the cave to their death to protect the powerful magic hidden in her domain. A purpose rather lowly for a magnificent and powerful creature like her. Her skin had a pale green glow to it – the same glow as the eyes of the animals and the grass. They were her creations just like the flowers that were growing between the scales of her tail and were sustained by the magic of her body. One of them tore away and used its leafs to swim over to a rock where it attached itself and started developing a root system that soon covered everything it could reach. The place where the flower had been growing on her had the color of her skin but quickly turned purple and extended over the scales beneath it, turning into another one of them when it was touched by the water.

And in the skin of her abdomen, below her breasts, was embedded what could only be a key. A golden key that kept the enchantment he was looking for safe into her grasp. The irony was so sweet he could laugh. The only way to get your hands on the one magic that could make anyone do as you desire was to resist the temptation of the siren. And if you failed, you'd have to do as she desired of you for the rest of your decidedly short life.

Oh, but Valtor wanted more than just the magic. He wanted the siren. For she was made of pure magic. He could feel it radiating off of her skin. It was so powerful that it lured him in closer, right to the edge of the lake. One more step and he'd fall in her embrace. He wanted to. He wanted her. She had to be his for he wanted her more than the enchantment he'd come for.

"Welcome to my lake," she spoke with a voice as deep as the ocean.

"That was a very warm welcome I got there," Valtor said, unable to take his eyes off of her, afraid she might disappear back under the water that he couldn't see through. The mere thought tasted bitter like failure.

"It wards off those who do not deserve my attention," she explained and he ate up every single word formed by her voice. It was like music to his ears and he never wanted to listen to anything other than that magical sound. "I can grant every wish. You don't even have to say it. Just think about it and it's yours."

Valtor almost didn't think of the enchantment, his mind full of all that she was, his senses overloaded with perceiving everything that she did. He couldn't function without her at his side anymore. He had to have her. "What's the price?"

The corners of her mouth twitched up. "A simple kiss," she said, causing his mind to stop working altogether. Kissing her would be like tasting magic in its purest form. No will was strong enough to resist that. Not that he wanted to.

"I believe we have a deal," he knelt down to level himself with her. Suddenly, the steep bottom of the lake seemed like a blessing for it allowed her to come close enough to touch, close enough to kiss.

He buried his hands in her long purple hair that had been dry the moment she'd shown her head above the water and pulled her closer.

She clutched at his clothes, keeping him in place as she stole the breath out of his lungs, her soul trying to drown his. It was a common misconception that sirens didn't have souls. But they did. They had souls like the ocean and once you got lost in their waves, you lost your soul to the siren and she could make you do her bidding. And right now her ocean was fighting to extinguish his flames.

Part of him wished to let her do it. Just lose himself into the incomprehensible waves of her power, into the ocean of magic that she was. But that way she would have him. And that was every bit as different from him having her as their core elements. So he had to resist the urge to give in and keep his fire burning.

His oxygen was running low, though, and if he didn't pull away, he would die. But if he did pull away, he would die, too. If he broke the kiss, he'd be hers and she'd mark him with the first letter of her name–all too tempting a possibility since the power of the ocean was captured in every siren's name and it was written in the language of the waves that no human could understand–using water to carve it into his skin like the waves carved holes into rocks. And she would only stop when the water was spilling down his throat and making his lungs burn for air that would never come.

He discarded his gloves, letting them fall into the water, and moved his hands to her neck, covering the gills located there. The feeling of her bare skin under his palms was so heady that he would never let her go. He concentrated all of his power into sucking the oxygen out of her body and into his. He felt it flowing through his blood and towards his brain, helping him stay focused. He could feel it affecting her, too, for she slowed down in her fervor and it wasn't long before she was pulling away. And that was how the fire triumphed over the might of the ocean.

He gasped for breath, yet yearned only for her, and the only thing that calmed his frantic heart was the knowledge that she was his and he would never let her go.

He had to pull his hand away from her neck when he felt her skin burning under his fingers. There, next to the gills, appeared an elegant v burnt into her skin. Her own magic was marking her with his initial because she was his now. And he was certain he'd never seen anything more beautiful than the look on her face.

She was looking at him as if he was her everything. And he was. He meant more to her than the ocean now.

Without a word she dived into the lake to get what he'd come for. Though now he had a problem. Or at least he thought so before he saw the scales of her tail going all the way up her spine and into her hair. It was a physical expression of the ocean woven into her soul that linked her to the water. But she was faithful to him now.

She soon emerged with a shell in her hands and nothing more than a pale scar where the key had been nestled into her skin.

He pocketed his enchantment and pulled the real pearl up on the shore. He put a hand between her breasts and willed his fire to burn and force all the water out of her soul.

Her face scrunched up in pain but she held still for that was his will. Her scales started to lose color and retreat back, turning into human skin cells. Her tale separated into two legs that would allow her to walk together with him and her gills closed, leaving no sign of ever existing. The edges of the mark on her neck got distorted and made it look like an ugly wound rather than the elegant brand that it was. And her eyes lost their bright glow, turning a shade tamer as if the sun had already set on their sky. Gone was the adoring look, too.

He hoped he hadn't overdone it. He knew he had. Or maybe that was just the price for taking away a part of her soul. He couldn't be her ocean if she didn't have one engraved into her being. He also might have burned away enough of the spell that made her his to give her free will. But he had the enchantment now so losing her was not a problem he had to worry about. She'd be his one way or another.

He made her a dress in the same dark purple that her tail had been and helped her up. He supported her until she got stable enough for him to let go of her and allow her to deal with the killer grass that had almost stopped him on his way to her and had grown back even though he'd destroyed it. But now that he had her, it wouldn't be a problem. Nothing would be.

She raised her hands and the green glow of magic that came out of them made the grass retreat back into the soil, leaving the path clear for their passage.

The crow cawed inconsolably but she silenced it with a single motion of her hand. Valtor wasn't even certain if she'd used magic. But the crow didn't try to interfere and passively watched them go. The life of the lake was nothing without her.

She smashed to pieces the wall that had forced him to shapeshift before with the violent purple energy coming out of her hands.

"Come, Griffin," he offered her a hand and gave her a new name. She was his now and her name had to reflect that. The griffin was a powerful and majestic animal with wings strong enough to keep up with a dragon. The perfect partner.

She took his hand and he walked out of the cave not only with his life and the enchantment, but also with a powerful partner who would follow him into the fire.


End file.
